She cooks and cleans in federal buildings & she needs a union to empower her!
Last week, working moms who serve meals and clean inside federal buildings said that the President’s executive order raising their pay to $10.10 isn’t enough and that they need a voice on the job so they don’t need to keep striking to be heard.
“We need a living wage and benefits,” says Yesenia Vega, a worker at a McDonald’s restaurant located at the Pentagon. She and other workers are also seeking decent health insurance, vacation benefits and paid sick days. “We need a union to get these things,” she says.
The women fighting for a Good Jobs Nation sent a letter to President Obama and Labor Secretary Tom Perez calling for collective bargaining rights – and in just a few days, over 30,000 Americans signed a petition calling on the Administration to act.
SIGN THE PETITION FOR THE NEW ROSIE NOW!
And it’s not only 30,000 Americans who are standing-up for low-wage working mothers – it’s also the women leaders of national advocacy and faith organizations…
“During WWII, an army of women – made famous by the iconic “Rosie the Riveter” image – entered factories and shipyards to take up work for defense contractors. Faced with pay discrimination and other abuses, women joined unions in record numbers and waged strikes to demand a say in working conditions and win improvements on the factory floor…Unions made a difference in the lives of women industrial workers back then, and they still matter for the women who dominate the low-wage service sector today, including low-wage federal contract workers.” – “What Made Rosie Strong: A Voice at Work” Nancy Duff Campbell, Co-President, National Women’s Law Center, McClatchy National News Syndicated
“Pope Francis called on the faithful “to fight for social benefits, a dignified retirement, holidays, rest, and freedom for trade unions. All of these issues create social justice”…I hope the president will now go further and allow these federal contract workers the freedom to form a union and bargain collectively with their employers” from “What Pope Francis Would Tell President Obama: Let Workers Unionize” Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, National Catholic Reporter